MORE than #9,000 has been handed over by Coventry people to help the families of the victims of the terrorist attacks in America....

MORE than #9,000 has been handed over by Coventry people to help the families of the victims of the terrorist attacks in America.

Shoppers and people in pubs and clubs donated the money in just one day to firefighters collecting for the disaster appeal.

Nobby Clarke, sub-officer at Binley fire station, said: "We raised almost #8,000 in the city centre during the day on Saturday and just short of #1,500 in the evening."

The firefighters said they were overwhelmed with the public response to America's devastating terrorist attacks as people stuffed #20, #10 and #5 notes into collection jars.

Crews from Radford Road, Binley and Foleshill fire stations manned the collection point in Shelton Square throughout the day while colleagues at Canley station collected in Cannon Park.

In the evening, they went to the Skydome in Spon Street, Lloyds in High Street and Wetherspoons in Broadgate.

Paul Morgan, leading fireman at Radford Road, said: "It's surprising but people have been queuing up. People have just gone out of their way to offer money. It started first thing this morning when a lad came up and put #20 in."

Leading fireman Morgan said the atmosphere at the station had been sombre since the terror attacks.

"The blokes have been fairly quiet. Obviously it affects people in different ways but you can see the mood changing in the lads at work. Some have stopped watching the television."

The money will be donated to a fund to help the families of the estimated 250 firefighters killed in the disaster as well as those firefighters who were injured.

Coventry's firefighters are planning to organise car washes at the city's stations next Saturday to raise more money for the disaster fund.

New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani said 18 city firefighters were among the confirmed dead, including two top officials.

"The recovery effort continues and the hope is still there that we might be able to save some lives. But the reality is that in the last several days we haven't found anyone," Mr Giuliani said.

A senior police official said workers weren't even finding bodies, only body parts. No one has been pulled alive from the wreckage since Wednesday, the day after two hijacked jetliners were crashed into the trade centre's twin towers.